Welcome Back to School!

WOW...I totally underestimated and forgot about how exhausting the beginning of the year is! Sorry for my hibernation from blogging but I am back in action now! I am officially done with my first week with kiddos and I can see the light for the rest of the year! My classroom is a work in progress but it always is! Haha!

But seriously, I don't want to discuss how many times I went to Walmart of Target in the last two weeks!

So I talked about how I was "ALL IN" on a new classroom theme this year. I was going to do a baseball/team theme and I made a ton of stuff! I started to set everything up and realized I could not live with so much red and gray in my classroom! The second I put my blue and green back up I felt immediately better and knew it wasn't time for a complete change just yet! So since I wasted a lot of time changing my room, I didn't have as much time to put it back together. However, I think I found a happy place before school started! Here is preview!

I tried something a bit different this year. Instead of students beginning their day on "Ready to Learn," they have to earn it! They have to come in, put their things away, and get started on their work quickly before they get on the chart. So far, so good! They love to "show me" that they are ready for the day!

I decided on a clip chart for my jobs this year! The clips start at the top and move down. So as one kiddo put it, you get a little vacation once you have worked so hard in our classroom for a while! Haha! You can grab the chart here!

This was the last time my projector worked! YIKES...a new one is coming soon though! Starting the year without one has been quite the challenge for me!

Grab polka dot word wall cards here!

You may be thinking what is up with all of the blank boards?! I have found that the kiddos DO NOT understand how many resources are in our classroom if I start the year with them already on the wall. I start off with nothing up and build the room with my kids. When I started doing this I found out that the kids really understood what was posted in our room and how to use the resources better!

This was pretty much the set up for open house night! Our school had a "Building Lotts of Champs" theme so our team decided to do a "Brick by Brick" (UT VOLS reference) or "Lego by Lego" theme in our hallway. That is why you see all the legos! :) Here is our team ready for open house!

The kids think this is so silly and smile every time we walk by it!

My sweet teammate Donna! 

I also set up a photo booth for the first day of school! The kids were ADORABLE. I will post what I did with these sweet pictures very soon! Grab a photo booth for your grade level here!

Phew... now I need to get ready for our big parent meeting! Hopefully I will be posting soon about parent night and getting routines up and going!

Have a great weekend! Cheers!

P.S. One day S-A-L-E on Wednesday, August 19th! Check it out!